LANPHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY MAIN ST. HYDE PARK, VT 802-888-4628 CURRENT HOURS: MONDAY 12-7 TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY 10-5 SATURDAY 10-1 - Lanpher Memorial Library, 141 Main Street, Hyde Park, VT 888-46285 Monday 12-7; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10-5; Saturday 10-1

National Library Week

4/11/2025

As National Library Week comes to an end, I write to say how special it is to have a week set aside each year to celebrate the many roles that Libraries play in our communities.
You can walk into any public library in the country and find similarities and differences to your own home library. That is because each library adapts and changes to meet the unique needs and interests of their community to the best of their ability, time, and budget.
Libraries always step up in times of hardship, and the role of the public library is just as important now as ever before.
Thank you for cherishing the Lanpher Memorial Library for the past 109 years.

Black History Month

2/5/2025

Black History Month began in 1925 when Carter G. Woodson and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week. His intent was to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization and the event was first celebrated in February 1926 during a week that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. In 1976, the nation's bicentennial, the celebration was expanded to a month by President Gerald R. Ford.

The Lanpher Library has a display featuring some of our collection featuring the contributions of African Americans, with more to be discovered throughout our collection.

What can we do to celebrate Black History Month?
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), founders of Black History Month have these suggestions:
1) Explore Black History
Learn about Black history by exploring your local community, reading books by Black authors, and visiting Black or African-American history museums.
Where in VT? Visit the Vermont African American History Trail: https://vermontvacation.com/things-to-do/trip-ideas-itineraries/heritage-trails/african-american-heritage-trail/
2) Read Books or Stories written by Black Authors
Discover unique perspectives and rich narratives reflecting divers experiences and cultural histories.
3) Support Black-owned businesses.
By choosing to shop from Black-owned businesses, you contribute to greater diversity in the marketplace and help create opportunities for underrepresented communities. Consider exploring shops, restaurants, and services to uplift these valuable businesses.
Check out the Vermont Professionals of Color Business Directory:
https://www.vtpoc.net/bipoc-business-directory/
4) Learn about Black leaders.Learn about influential Black leaders who have shaped history and continue to inspire. Follow ASALH on social media that highlights the legacies of Black leaders through its Black Facts posts, which celebrate the achievements and impact of these pivotal figures
Link to ASALH Facebook page:
.https://www.facebook.com/ASALH.BlackHistory

5) Watch films and documentaries created by Black filmmakers. Explore an array of films and documentaries by talented Black filmmakers. Discover diverse narratives that celebrate the rich experiences, cultures, and histories of the Black community.

6) Commit beyond February
Make a strategic commitment to Black History Month, and don't limit your efforts to just Februrary.

Learn more:
https://asalh.org/

The Role of a Public Library

12/3/2024

"Libraries are more than just books", but what exactly does that mean?
What is the role of a public library in a community?
Of course, we're here to serve the informational needs of the public. We're trained to help people find accurate information, whether that means inside a book, or from an online source.
We talk a lot about Libraries as "third spaces", meaning: not home, not work, but a third place where people can connect with others.
Connecting people with each other, with information,and with a sense of community, this is the heart of a public library.

Act 150: Relating to Vermont Public Libraries

7/23/2024

On July 1, 2024 a new law went into effect that lowers the age of library patron confidentiality from 16 to 12.
Over the following weeks and months, we'll update all patron records marked as a "juvenile" record, so that patrons age 12-17 will be moved to a teenager category, and will be given the option to allow, or not allow a parent or guardian to have access to their library account. Regardless of what they choose when they update their account with us now, they can choose to change that at any time under this new law.
We'll ask parents of children under the age of 12 to add a birth date to their child's library account so that we can make sure we comply with the confidentiality law when the patron turns 12.

Click to read Act 150

The Faraway Paladin Manga Series

11/21/2023

The Lanpher Memorial Library has several new Manga series. A new series at our library is:
The Faraway Paladin. The first 10 volumes of the manga series have been translated into
English and the 1
st
Omnibus volume (combining 1 & 2) is now available at the library.
In the city of the dead, long since ruined and far from human civilization, lives a single human
child. His name is Will, and he’s being raised by three undead. The three pour love into the boy, and
teach him all they know. But one day, Will starts to wonder: “Who am I?”
Will must unravel the mysteries of this faraway land, and unearth the secret pasts of the undead. He
must learn the love and mercy of the good gods, and the bigotry and madness of the bad. And when
he knows it all, the boy will take his first step on the path to becoming a Paladin.
From the English language publisher, J-Novel Club.
The anime first season was from October 2021 to January 2022. A second anime season is
airing starting October 2023. The anime series is available to watch on the streaming service
Crunchyroll.
The Manga reading age is listed as 13 years and up.

Water Bottle Filling Station at the Library!

5/24/2023

Stop by the Lanpher Library to fill up your water bottles at our new Water Bottle Filling Station that we intsalled with a grant through Green Up Vermont, sponsored by Chittenden Solid Waste District and the VT Agency of Natural Resources. (Thank You!)

If you don't have a water bottle with you...don't buy a single use plastic bottle! Buy one of these re-usable aluminum bottles for $5 and fill it up!

Learn more about Green Up Vermont's initiative to reduce the amount of single use plastics, and see if you can recognize anyone in the WCAX piece:
https://www.wcax.com/2022/06/28/green-up-vermont-tries-new-method-reduce-plastic-waste/www.wcax.com/2022/06/28/green-up-vermont-tries-new-method-reduce-plastic-waste/

Hyde Park Views!

8/3/2022

Hyde Park is excited to announce the official start of a fundraising campaign for an amazing art installation called "Hyde Park Views" at the trail head of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail on Depot St. in Hyde Park, and YOU can help make it happen!
If the campaign reaches its $20,000 goal by September 8th, Hyde Park Views will receive a matching grant of $40,000 from DHCD’s Better Places program.
To learn more, and to donate (any amount at all will be gratefully received!) visit: https://www.patronicity.com/project/hyde_park_views#!/

Vermont LSTA Plan Survey

5/10/2022

The Lanpher Library benefits from the Vermont Department of Library's (VTLib) services in a variety of ways. VTLib needs YOUR help in order for them to make sure they are getting funding for uses that will benefit you and your use of the Lanpher Library and other Libraries in the state.
Please consider filling out the short 4 question survey below.
Here is what it asks:
1) My library is...(public? school? academic? other? If you're filling it out for the Lanpher Library, it's PUBLIC)
2) This question asks you to click a box to finish the sentence: "My library is..."
Answer choices range from "essential to the quality of life in my community" to "not at all important to the quality of life in my community"
3) Aspirations for my library.
This question asks you to complete this sentence in your own words in a text box:
"I wish that my library was able to....."
4) Please complete the following sentence by entering your thoughts in the text box below.
I wish my library would do...
More of this____________________
and less of this______________________.

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6857086/Vermont-LSTA-Plan-Survey-2022

Here is some more info about the funding:
Every five years, each state library administrative agency (SLAA) in the nation (the Vermont Department of Libraries [VTLib] is Vermont’s official SLAA) is required to develop a five-year plan that outlines how it intends to use federal funding provided through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) "Grants to States" program. This plan must be submitted by June 30, 2022 to qualify for funding for Federal Fiscal Years 2023 - 2027.
QualityMetrics, working closely with VTLib, recently completed an independent evaluation of Vermont's implementation of the LSTA program for the 2018 - 2022 period and is now facilitating the development of the new five-year plan. This very brief survey (it should take you no more than five minutes to complete) along with the information gathered during the evaluation are components of the planning process. Please "give us five" to help the Vermont Department of Libraries serve your community better!
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6857086/Vermont-LSTA-Plan-Survey-2022

Wishtree Day 2022

4/18/2022

Wishtree Day started at the Lanpher Library in May 2019. The book Wishtree, by Katherine Applegate was on the VT Middle Grade book award list, and after reading it, we recognized a need for a Wishtree in our community.
About the book: "Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .

Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with a crow named Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this wishtree watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all.

Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experience as a wishtree is more important than ever."

On May 1, 2019, with the help of Hyde Park Elementary School Librarian, Robin Bryce, and the Children's Literacy Foundation (CLiF), we organized a day where every student from HPES came to the Library, wrote down their wish, and with help of volunteers: Melanie and Everett Dickinson, Marie Olsen, Tammy Agnew, and Shelby Padulo, they tied their wishes into the branches of the Pin Oak tree in front of the Lanpher Library.
In 2019, there were a lot of wishes to win the lottery, become rich and famous, and also wishes for love, and caring, and for summer every day!

In May of 2020, because of Covid-19, our Wishtree Day, like so many other things, moved to an online format. We shared the anonymous online form with school classes, and the wider community. We wrote the wishes down on scraps of fabric and tied them to the tree on behalf of the wishers. The tone of the wishes changed. There were few lighthearted wishes, and more wishes for quarantine to be over, to play with my friends again, for the virus to end...

May 1, 2021 was a true day of community in Hyde Park. April 30th was Wishtree Day with Hyde Park Elem. School students walking to the Library to tie their wishes in the tree branches. May 1, was Green Up Day! Folks stopped by the Library to hang wishes in the tree, pick up their Green Up bags, and were welcomed by the unicorn, eagle, squid, and lion characters! The Lanpher Library dedicated our Spirit of Community Awards to Robin Aither and Kathy Geiersbach, and cut the ribbon on the Little Free Library created in memory of Chris Maxim. The Friends of the Lanpher Memorial Library also dedicated a Little Free Library at the Gihon Valley Hall in North Hyde Park.

This year, we'll have Wishtree Day with HPES on Friday, April 29th. On the 29th, and after, we will have scraps of fabric available in the Library for folks to write down their wishes too, or you can submit your wish through the anonymous online form and we'll write them down and put them on the Wishtree.

For more information about Wishtree, by Katherine Applegate, check out the author's website...and check out the book from the Lanpher Library!
katherineapplegate.com/ lanpherlibrary.org

Click here to submit a wish online

Waking Up to Social Change Art Exhibit at the Library

1/24/2022